


The Domino Effect

by dracoismytrashson (JGogoboots)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 6: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, First Kiss, M/M, Not Canon Compliant - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-25
Updated: 2018-10-25
Packaged: 2019-08-07 10:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16406498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JGogoboots/pseuds/dracoismytrashson
Summary: Desperate to find out what happened between Slughorn and Tom Riddle, Harry accepts the aid of a mysterious orb that allows him to go back in time to that very day. Too bad he's now stuck reliving that day over and over again...





	The Domino Effect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Glorilian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glorilian/gifts).



> Dear giftee, I hope you enjoy this! Since your prompt was very forgiving in its "go wild, I like surprises" nature, I hope you won't be disappointed with where my brain ended up going! I've never written this pairing before but got unexpectedly into it once I started. Hopefully that shows. :) 
> 
> Thanks to C for beta-ing in a pinch for me!

Harry trusted Hermione. After all, who always saved their skins at the last minute? Who seemed to swoop in with a solution to an insurmountable problem when Harry had just about given up? None of the disasters he’d averted so far could have been conquered without her help, but now he was severely regretting taking her advice. Perhaps traveling back in time to get the information Slughorn refused to provide _seemed_ like a good idea at the time, but Hermione wasn’t there with him, reliving the same day over and over again, was she?

He’d stayed in the shadows at first, following Tom until he witnessed his conversation with Slughorn. Harry gasped as he learned about Tom’s intentions, his desire to split his soul into Horcruxes, yet still he remained hidden. But after the cloudy orb had refused to spring to life and suck Harry back into the present, it became apparent that remaining undetected was going to be a bit of a problem.

And that was how Harry Potter had ended up desperately rambling to a befuddled Tom Riddle whose skeptical dark eyes weren’t buying any of Harry’s cobbled together excuses.

“Your clothes…” The handsome boy had said with disdain, looking Harry up and down. “Where did you say you were from again?”

“Um… I didn’t, actually.” Harry scratched the back of his neck and blushed, feeling so alone and helpless. He wasn’t eloquent at the best of times, but even less so under pressure. It was becoming clearer with every passing second that he really, really hadn’t thought this through. He met Tom’s eyes, trying not to be unsettled by his piercing gaze. It felt like he could see straight inside Harry, could pull out every doubt and private thought lurking within. The command with which he spoke and the way he looked upon Harry with such menace reminded him of Draco, but now was not the time to start feeling small. “Oh, fuck it.”

Harry took a step forward and inhaled a deep, steadying breath. He could practically hear Hermione shrieking at him in the present, but if he was stuck in a time loop, what else could he do but try to make a difference?

“You don’t know me Tom, but I know you. And I know what will happen if you go through with it. I know what you’ll become, and trust me, no immortal life is worth that. You’ll lose your humanity more and more every time you make a Horcrux.”

The boy’s eyes widened, first in surprise and then in pure fury. He pushed Harry back against the stone wall of the hallway, but before he could speak, they both gasped. A strange ripple of heat had soared through Harry at the point of contact and judging by Tom’s reaction, he imagined he’d felt it too.

“What was that?” Tom’s tone was still angry but also spiked with fear now.

"I-I don't know," Harry said with a frown. As though he'd been scorched, Tom's hand dropped away, and he speared Harry with one final look of scorn before turning to leave.

"As much as my curiosity about your sudden appearance is – " The boy slowly turned back to Harry with narrowed eyes. "I was about to say that I have more pressing matters to attend to, but perhaps you are the key to them after all. I'll ask you again. Who are you and where did you come from?"

"I'm someone you hurt... someone you try to kill in the future. I came here to... try to change things." Harry's breath came out in short, shallow puffs as his eyes nervously darted over to Tom, waiting to see how he would respond. "But I can't seem to get back the way I came. As I'm sure you know by now, we've been living the same day over and over again. I think we're the only ones who notice."

"So I have you to blame for this." Tom pulled his wand from his jacket pocket, but Harry was too quick.

" _Expelliarmus!_ "

Nothing happened. Harry's jaw dropped, but Tom smirked and shot a stinging hex his way. His smirk faded when the result was equally non-existent.

"What have you done to me?!" He snarled at Harry. " _Lumos!_ "

Tom stared at the tip of his wand as it glowed a warm yellow. He turned back to Harry again, his brown eyes flinty, but Harry stood his ground, willing his face to not betray any fear.

"Why can't we hurt each other? I touch you, and I feel... " Tom shook his head, his lips curled in disgust. "There's something you aren't telling me."

Harry lifted the hair from his forehead.

"This scar seems to connect us. In the future, I feel pain in the scar when you hurt someone or... are up to something. It's hard to explain."

"Why would a scar link us like that?" The hard edge to Tom's tone faded to give way to something more... normal. For a moment, he sounded simply like a curious sixteen-year-old boy, his sharp features softer as he implored Harry to explain himself. It was a striking thing... to be here in front of him and to wonder...

"We should go somewhere and talk."

 

***

 

"Why should I trust any of this? There's no way for me to verify anything you say."

"No, but there also isn't anyone else to ask. So unless you have a better idea, I think you're going to have to trust me unless you want to repeat this day for the rest of our lives." Harry sat on the edge of the desk in the empty classroom and watched Tom pace back and forth, his pale hands clasped behind his back.

"And how do you propose we solve this? Clearly you're no help in that matter," He spat.

"Thanks. Reminding me I'm an idiot will really help everything along nicely." Harry rolled his eyes and hopped off the desk.

"Well, who time travels without even the most cursory of plans? And with no contingencies for possible disasters?! I'm quite surprised I wasn't successful in killing you when I had the chance."

"Shut up!" Harry shouted, his hands balled into fists at his sides. "You know what you look like in the future? Gray and nose-less like a disgusting reptile. You have more in common with your pet snake than any living, breathing human. You are a hollow body filled with nothing, your soul split into who knows how many pieces until there's barely anything left. You love no one and are loved by no one. You live only for hate."

"Better to be feared than loved," Tom hissed, turning his back on Harry. He walked to the windows lining the left wall of the room, moonlight streaming in and leaving silvery beams across the empty desks.

"How can you think that? You're only sixteen, Tom... Why give up now?" Harry knew it was futile, but he was stuck for now. What did he have to lose? "Love is always more powerful than fear."

"I wouldn't know." Tom looked over his shoulder at Harry, and Harry couldn't help the answering sting in his chest. In that moment, it was impossible to forget the parallels between them, the loveless childhoods spent misunderstood and alone.

Harry walked forward, closing the distance between them and putting a firm hand on Tom's shoulder. That comforting heat passed through Harry again, and a contented sigh escaped his lips. Tom's eyes closed, and he leaned into Harry's palm just a fraction. Harry could feel his loneliness, his rage, his misguided sense of righteousness. All of it flickered through him in a flash, and then abruptly, it stopped. Harry opened his eyes, unaware that he had closed them to begin with, and saw that Tom had wrenched out of his grasp, looking at the spot where Harry's hand had been with a mixture of distaste and confusion.

"I have to get back to the dorms," He muttered, skittering away and slamming the heavy door behind him.

Harry sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes and wishing he could be back in the present, surrounded by his friends and all the people who loved and cared for him, the people he relied on to tell him what to do at times like this.

He cast a cushioning charm on the floor and lied down in the dark, empty room. Maybe tomorrow's version of today would be better.

 

***

 

"Why are you so intent on this anyway? What do you think is going to happen when you get all the power you're hungry for? You think that hole inside you is going to just disappear? The voice that screams that you're unlovable and no one has ever wanted you or ever will?"

"Stop!"

Harry stalked forward, determined to spew every last vitriolic thought, but then he stopped. He took a breath and remembered what Hermione had said about the orb. _It says it will return you home when your desires have been realized and that which you sought to change has come to pass._

At the time, Harry had been frustrated at the cryptic message but had mostly ignored it. Now he saw that was a terrible idea. Clearly, there was something vital that he was missing. Something he was meant to do in this day.

"You felt it when I touched you."

"Felt what? It was terrible." Tom shuddered, crossing his arms as though to ward off the memory of Harry's hands.

"It was terrible because you're afraid to feel something, afraid to let anyone in, but you weren't as repulsed as you pretended to be. You relaxed into it. I _saw_ you. When was the last time anyone hugged you?" Harry took a couple careful steps toward him. Tom watched him warily, but he didn't move.

"Ah yes, a broken man can be rebuilt by the power of the hug." Tom snorted derisively, looking at Harry as though he found his stupidity to be inconceivable. He really did have a few shades of Draco Malfoy in him. "What pathetic Muggle storybook are you living in?"

"I'm not saying a hug solves all your problems. I realize that's ridiculous. But it _is_ important. People do... waste away without these things. It's a start, anyway. And I just noticed..." _I noticed you were absolutely starved for it._

Harry didn't finish that sentence. He had a feeling that pity wasn’t something Tom would tolerate.

"You noticed what?" Tom tilted his head, giving Harry an eerily evaluating look.

"Nothing, I just... as you know now, we grew up in similar ways. I understand. That's all I'm saying."

The other boy leaned against the desk and looked down at the floor. The silence stretched between them, and an idea hatched within Harry's brain. It was an idea he was certain all of his friends would have chased out of his head had they been there. But they weren't. He was alone and desperate, and no one was there to warn him against it.

"Can I... try something?"

"What exactly do you intend to do?" Tom asked skeptically.

"Does it matter? It's been a week, we're sort of at the end of our rope, and anyone you ask for help forgets it when the day resets."

"I suppose so." Tom sighed resignedly and gave Harry a reluctant nod.

"Close your eyes."

Tom raised an eyebrow, and Harry threw up his hands.

"Fine, fine. Eyes closed."

Harry shook his head at the absurdity of this, but it seemed right somehow. Considering how he had reacted before, Harry felt certain this was the key. Or at least part of it. He walked a few paces closer until they were mere inches apart and placed his hands on Tom's slender shoulders. Tom flinched for a second, his eyes squeezing shut tighter, but then he seemed to relax, an imperceptible nod urging Harry to continue. Harry leaned forward and tried not to think too hard about what he was about to do and to whom he was about to do it. Focusing only on the result he wanted to produce, Harry brushed his lips against Tom's. Tom began to quiver under Harry's hands, a small gasp leaving his lips. Harry pressed on, one of his hands sinking into Tom's dark hair as he kissed him again, firmer this time. The response that he'd felt the few brief times they'd touched was magnified, a vibrant energy coursing between them, back and forth in a way Harry couldn't accurately describe. It was frighteningly intense. He felt Tom's hesitance, his shame, and the need within him that contradicted all of that. He wondered what Tom felt radiating from him.

Tom pulled away with a pained noise and looked around the room, eyes focusing on anything but Harry.

"We have something else in common, don't we?"

Tom shook his head vigorously.

"Tom, the fact that you didn't even ask what I meant tells me all I need to know, and it's – "

"You have no idea what you're talking about. You filthy, disgusting – "

"Call me whatever you want. I know you're really just telling me what you think of yourself... aren't you?" Harry asked quietly, both of them staring at one another like wild animals waiting for their opponent to strike.

"Why are you here?" There was a desperation in Tom's voice, a profound sadness that made Harry more sympathetic than he wanted to be.

"I thought I was here to find out what you asked Slughorn that night, but I think the orb wouldn't take me home until I'd tried to reach you. Maybe I haven't made a difference. Like you said, a touch can't erase everything, but if you change one small detail in the past, you change everything after it. A chain of events has to begin with something, right?"

Tom opened his mouth to speak, but a high-pitched melodious drone caught the attention of both boys. They turned their heads in the direction of the sound and saw the orb lighting up, a rainbow of shimmering reds, blues and purples.

Harry impulsively hugged Tom and whispered in his ear, "Don't forget me, and don't forget what I said."

Not wasting any more time lest he risk truly being stuck in the past, Harry ran to the opposite corner of the room and grabbed the orb. He felt the familiar sensation of his body being twisted and compacted into a strange, weightless form as he was sucked into the orb and spit back into the present. Harry tumbled onto a hard wooden floor and winced as the back of his head banged against it.

"Harry!" Hermione rushed to his side, and Dumbledore crouched beside her. Harry vaguely heard a thump not far behind him but was too disoriented to turn around and investigate. His stomach was roiling from the journey, threatening to spill all of its contents onto the floor at any moment. He clutched his belly and croaked out a request for water. Harry panted and leaned back on his hands. After a moment, he realized neither Hermione nor Dumbledore had moved. He looked up, puzzled to see their worried expressions. They were looking at something behind him.

"Hermione? Professor? What's – "

With a weary head, Harry turned around, his mouth agape as he finally saw what had caught their attention. A figure rose from the floor, dusting off his trousers as he stood. Apparently, Harry wasn’t the only person who had traveled through the orb.

"Albus... I see you've done quite well for yourself." The boy slipped his hands in his pockets and calmly strode around Dumbledore's office. "Headmaster of Hogwarts. I suppose it's what you've always wanted."

"Hello, Tom. It's been a long time." Dumbledore didn't move. Only followed Riddle's every movement with vigilant eyes. Tom smirked back at all of them.


End file.
